National Team Match:
Japan 4 - 3 Bahrain

Date: 3 Aug, 2004 Location: Chengdu Stadium, China Japan 4 0 1H 1 3 2H 2 1 ET1 0 0 ET2 0 3 Bahrain Koji Nakata (48') Keiji Tamada (55') Yuji Nakazawa (89') Keiji Tamada (93') Scoring Hubail (6') Hubail (71') Nasser (85') Nishi Santos Kaji Kawaguchi Cautions Jalal Jalal Salmeen Endo Sent Off Jalal Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Makoto Tanaka (Koji Nakata 44), Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Yuji Nakazawa, Yasuhito Endo, Takashi Fukunishi (Mitsuo Ogasawara 45), Akira Kaji (Norihiro Nishi 92), Shunsuke Nakamura, Alessandro Santos, Takayuki Suzuki , Keiji Tamada Ali Abdullah, Faisal Abdulazaz, Mohammed Juma, Salman Isa, Hussein Baba, Rashed Al-Dosari, Mohammed Salmeen, Talal Yusef, Mohammed Hubail, Hussain Ali, As-sallah Hubail

For the second match in a row, Japan managed to overcome an actively hostile referee and their own apparent lack of energy, defying the odds and moving one step closer to the Asian Cup title. Since they first arrived in China, it has been clear that just about everyone involved in this event wants to get rid of them. They have had to deal with hostile crowds booing their national anthem, and their every touch of the ball, referees who seem to think that there is nothing wrong with applying two completely different standards to Japan's play and to those of their opponent, not to mention the inexcusable lack of any security or support from the local organisers (at one point, Japan's leam bus had to leave without two players, for fear that a mob of hostile Chinese fans would attack the bus. The two players later had to sneak back to their hotel in a taxi). When this entire fiasco is finally over, the Asian Football Confederation will have a great deal to answer for, and if they are wise, the JFA will submit tapes of all the incident to FIFA and demand that from henceforth, all of their matches will be officiated by a referee from UEFA, COMNEBOL or CONCACAF. AFC referees have visibly favoured Japan's opponents for years, but never so openly, and with such total disregard for appearances, as they have at this event. If the Rising Sun News had any say in the matter, not only should Japan insist on non-AFC officials for all of its future matches, but the JFA should withdraw all funding from the AFC until it can demonstrate that it has overcome the political "fixing" and favouritism, and the shady dealings that have been so rudely apparent at the Asian Cup 2004.

The most amazing thing about the results of this Asian Cup is not the fact that Japan has faced so much difficulty, but rather, the remarkable fact that this understrength and often under-inspired team managed to overcome the oppressive conditions and reach the final. Japan may not have played particularly attractive football, over the past two weeks, but they HAVE demonstrated a tremendous amount of poise and will power, in refusing to give up even when all seems lost.

Japan's comeback agains Bahrain will probably go down as the highlight of this tournament, though many will say that it should also rank as one of the lowlights. As has been the case throughout the tournament, Japan came out very flat, and conceded an early goal to Bahrain on a nice spin move and quick shot by Ala Hubail. Though Bahrain certainly deserved the goal, it came very much against the run of play, and Japan immediately began creating heavy pressure as they fought to equalise. Several close calls failed to even the score, but it definitely looked like Japan were on the brink of scoring. But in the 40 minute, as Japan took off on a four-on-three break, the referee suddenly blew his whistle and walked over to Yasuhito Endo with a red card in his hand. Japan were dubfounded, as they tried to determine what the official was doing. Replays show that a Bahraini player charged Endo just as he released the ball to Shunsuke Nakamura to start the break, and as Endo tried to run past him, his right hand brushed the Bahrain player's face lightly. But despite the minimal contact, the defender threw himself to the ground and rolled as if in agony. The referee sent Endo off for a "flagrant foul", though any person capable of walking down the street without assistance from a guide dog could tell that there was no significant contact, and what contact there was could not possibly have been deliberate.

The Rising Sun News knows better than to expect "justice" from the AFC, though in any "real" football confederation, the referee would be dismissed from the tournament and the red card rescinded. AFC officials should make no mistake, their reputations are on the line here. A very similar incident led to an Iranian player being sent off in their semifinal match with China, and despite dominating play with one fewer players, Iran ended up losing on penalty kicks. Failure to respond to these incidents with a formal investigation will confirm, in the minds of football fans throughout Asia, that this year's competition has been fixed. Suspicions were already sky high after China, thanks to "good fortune", drew Bahrain, Indonesia and Qatar as their group opponents. Given the many other incidents that have accompanied China's advance to the final, it is hard to avoid the impression that "someone" is doing all in their power to ensure that China win this year's title. Unless there is prompt and thorough action by the AFC to discipline the referees of both semifinal matches, it will be very difficult to erase this impression, regardless of who wins the final match. Unfortunately, to be quite honest, we are not holding our breaths . . .

Despite the psychological blow of being reduced to ten men, Japan showed a great deal of poise, in the second half, coming out with a flurry of attacking football that produced two quick goals. Four minutes after the break, Japan got the equaliser on a corner kick from the left side, which Koji Nakata headed home from near the penalty spot. Five minutes later, Nakata again was involved as he sent a through pass to Keiji Tamada, to the left of the box. Tamada made a feint for the end line, then cut back and sent a screaming drive from a low angle, which snuck just inside the near post and underneath the crossbar.

But Bahrain showed that they also have a strong combative streak, as they shook off Japan's two goals and used their mana advantage to create havy pressure over the remaining 35 minutes. A horriffic blunder by Nakamura, who lost possession just a few steps outside his own box, allowed Bahrain to equalise once more, with Hubail again providing the goal. With time running down, a fast break down the left sideline by Bahrain beat Japan's pulled-up defensive line, and Duaji Nasser fired a low shot that slipped just past the fingers of Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi. As the final whistle approached, it looked like Japan were on their way out of the tournament, but in a wild final frenzy, a sequence of five passes around and through the Bahrain penalty box scrambled the defence, and gave Alex Santos an open cross from the left edge of the area. Santos found defender Yuji Nakazawa, slipping forward from his spot in the back line, and placed a low drive into his path. Nakazawa met the ball with a thunderous header which leveled the score and sent Japan's bench into wild leaps of celebration.

Though Bahrain still had the extra man, this last-second strike seemed to deflate them completely. Early in the first extra time period, Keiji Tamada received a long outlet pass and fought his way through two obvious fouls before finally breaking free and beating the keeper to the low right corner. The referee, perhaps realising how bad he was going to look once the AFC directorate got their hands on the match tape, suddenly decided to try to make amends. To everyone's amazement, he sent off Sayed Mahmoud Jalal on a second yellow card offence, for a foul that was no worse than a score ofother fouls committed earlier in the contest, which he had seen fit to completely ignore. Whether that will save his hide remains to be seen, though we seriously doubt that he will ever visit Japan again.

It may be several weeks before we can step back far enough to give a clear-eyed evaluation of Japan's performance in the Asian Cup 2004. Clearly, the team was understrength, and just as clearly, they have faced serious obstacles, both physical, mental and emotional, yet with one match to go, they are still standing. That alone is quite an accomplishment. On the other hand, the content of play has been very disappointing, with the exception of a few brief periods when they were fighting back from adversity (both agains Bahrain, and in their pool match against Thailand). The biggest disappointment of all has been Zico's failure to use his bench. Many of hte reserves could probably make a useful contribution, if onlygiven the chance. But Zico has played his hand with what often seems like excessive caution and conservatism. Be that as it may, Zico may return to Japan in far greater favour than when he left. His performances in the post-match interviews have been more emotional, more honest, and more inspiring than anything we have heard in the past, and his new-found intensity seems to be rubbing off on the players, as well.

Below is the full roster for the match against Bahrain: